“Missing the mark!”

Learn the origin of that statement
and how it affects your future

 

 

What is the “rod of God?”

Have you ever heard the term: “rod of God” before today? We first hear of it when Moses is given a staff by God to walk with and use for miracles when God instructed him to use it accordingly. It looked as though it was a standard walking stick, but it wasn’t any ordinary walking stick; God gave it power. It couldn’t be used and abused by anyone other than the one God gave it to, and then it didn’t have power until God spoke. This rod is spoken of throughout the Bible, not only as referenced with Moses’ use of it, but also for protection, healing, and discipline. The rod of God should be feared and respected.

Throughout the Torah books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Holy Bible) the rod of God is referenced and used many times. Today we will focus on learning how God used it to mark “His own.” This story will give a whole new perspective to giving a “tenth” to the Lord.

We will discover how God marks His own, and that there can be no substitutions, or changes. He marks those that are His, and this will include imperfect ones. You can be imperfect and be holy to the Lord.  This is totally separate from God wanting perfect spotless ones for sacrifice. Passing under His rod here, is open for everyone that calls on the name of the Lord.

Pay close attention to see how to get marked by God.

 

Where it all began

In the book of Leviticus, we learn about the rod of God when God first teaches the Israelites about the tenth belonging to Him. Let’s read it, then discuss it.

“Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD. No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.'” Leviticus 27:32-33

This gives you the original meaning of “giving the 10th to God.” Being a “10” was very special to God. Many years ago there was a movie called: Ten. It starred a woman named Bo Derek and she was beautiful and portrayed as perfect in every way. When someone is judged in a contest they are working hard to get a “10” score. All of those references to being a “10” originated from this scripture. Who knew? Only the ones who study the whole Bible. It’s interesting to note that everything originates from our Creator, Adonai our God. The world takes everything from God and alters it giving it a new meaning. If you made a list of those occurrences you would run out of paper; it would also blow your mind. Just another fascinating thing you learn from studying the whole Word of God.

Back to the above scripture. During this time of tithing to the Lord, three times a year, the animals were lined up and put through a single file opening. As they passed through this opening, the rod, dipped in red “paint” of some sort, would come down and mark every tenth animal. The ones with the mark belonged to God.

If someone tried to swap the animal out for another one for any reason to be the tenth, God kept them both. It didn’t work in their favor to try to trick God. As for people, you can’t trick God and slip in to get marked to spend eternity with Him; He knows those that are His.

So during Moses time, when they were taught to give a tenth to the Lord, it meant every tenth animal became His. No one could trick the system and those that belonged to God were forever marked and used for various purposes.

 

Will you be His #10?

What does God expect from us to qualify to receive His “mark?” Answer: simply; obedience.

In Deuteronomy 30:11, God tells us that “it’s not too hard.” You see, God doesn’t set us up for failure, He doesn’t make it hard for us to obey Him. Remember what Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He also promises us that He “will make a way.” When you study the entire Bible from cover to cover you find out that His ways are not to hard. He keeps everything simple and graciously reminds us over and over until it sinks in. God keeps it easy; it’s humans that complicate the process.

When does God repeat Himself?
When it’s important!

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.“ Philippians 3:1

In that scripture, Paul tells us that God repeats what is important for our well-being. We are promised countless times in His Word, that if we obey Him, He will bless us in mighty ways. Obeying Him gives us amazing strength to move forward as His light in the darkness; there is no fear when living in obedience to Him. He continually tests us to see if we really love Him; welcome those tests and show Him you do by clinging to Him and obeying Him. Don’t be afraid of learning what He wants to teach you. Remember, your Creator loves you and cares for you, if you allow Him.

God says to Moses, “Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my mitzvot; so that it would go well with them and their children forever.” Deuteronomy 5:26 CJB /Deuteronomy 5:29 KJV (Mitzvot = His commands)

This is who your God is; a loving, gracious, and merciful God that does NOT force you to choose Him. Anything said to the contrary is false.

 

Thumbing our nose up at God.            

From the beginning of time, God, our Creator, has tried to show us His love and His way. The majority of humans don’t seem to be interested in His ways, rather they want the easy-fast way to everything; the “I want it now” generation. God doesn’t roll that way. His timing is perfect, but most people don’t want to wait on Him. Instead, we put God in a corner of our life and expect Him to stay there until we need Him. We don’t want any inference in our lives and plans for ourselves, but should something go wrong with our plans, we blame God for allowing it to happen.

In Ezekiel 8:17, we are learning what God thinks about the ones that are thumbing their nose up at God upset or mad about their circumstances and want answers from God.  In the story of Job, when he wanted answers from God about his circumstances, he realized real quick, that faith in a relationship with God, was all He needed. Those who are unrighteous that demand answers will feel the wrath of God. In this verse in the King James Version we are shown in the original version that thumbing your nose up at God, is referred to as “put the branch to the nose.” Either way, NOT recommended.

 

Choose: fear, or peace?

Who will you listen to? God or the world? Most people are putting a hand out towards the Bible, saying, NO! Either they don’t want to hear it, or they have given up on God because they don’t want to wait on His timing or His plan for them. This mindset comes with excuses that you are too busy to read your Bible, and possibly saying that Sunday church covers your needs and your obligation to God. On the flip side, your hands are wide open reaching out for all the lies and fear the world is offering you.

If you study your Holy Bible cover to cover you would see how much God loves you, how He warns you of what is to come, and He shows you that waiting on Him and resting in His arms is a good thing. When you don’t stay in your Bible and get your “daily bread” then you are subject to what the world is saying. Guess what? They are selling fear!

Right on que, in these end times we are living in, there is now a new movie out that is produced by a former leader in our country that is instilling crazy fear in the viewers and leading them away from God’s truth.  Those who don’t have a close relationship with God who watch this movie, they are going to be filled with fear of what is to come.

Serving the world and doing life on your own terms brings: FEAR! Serving God and trusting Him in all things and clinging to Him in these end-times brings: PEACE!

Choose today who you will believe, who you will serve? God or man. You cannot serve two masters.

 

Is it too late for me?

We are living in the end-times. Your time to turn to God is literally coming to an end in our generation and life-time. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes; every day is something new unfolding. When you study the whole Bible, you recognize world events that God has warned us about in the Bible; it’s surreal and awe-inspiring for His followers to witness. For those who live in darkness, they have no clue what is going on and are building bunkers and storing up food and supplies to survive when the world comes to an end as we know it.

Now, it’s our turn to pass under the rod of God!

God tells us in Ezekiel 20 what His plan is for marking those that are His.

“And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me” Ezekiel 20:37-38a

The “Day of the Lord” is near. It is not a day of joy but a day of wrath for non-believers. You do NOT want to be here for it.

God knows those who are His and those who will choose Him before it’s too late. He already has plans for His followers and He already has plans for those who choose to cling to this world and the fear it offers. I pray you choose Him today. Then share this truth, His truth, with others so they will have the opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus.

 

The Mark of God

So we have learned about the rod of God marking every tenth one as His. Allow me to share scriptures to show you more about His mark.

When I was growing up in church, we were not taught about the mark of God, we were taught the mark of the beast. That subject was hammered into us to scare us straight, so to speak, to keep us out of trouble and make us follow God. I feel quite certain that I would have done better if I had been taught about the mark of God instead; to learn how much God loves me when I was a child. As a result of being taught about the mark of the beast, I had an unhealthy fear of God; I didn’t know how much He loved me.

We learn early on in the Bible, that God has His Word written on our hearts. So even if we aren’t taught the truth, the Holy Spirit has written it on our hearts. That’s how we instinctively know between good and evil. When we aren’t taught truth peppered with discipline as instructed also in the early books of the Bible, then the enemy can cloud our thinking and judgement and we can find ourselves walking away from God.

In Ezekiel chapter 9, we learn and see what God tells His angels to do about marking His followers before they destroy the non-believers. God sets His people apart, marks them as His and they are safe. They are safe even while living in this evil world before His wrath comes down. Even if our lives end in death for our belief in Him, it’s a blessing because we are immediately with Him. He mentions this wrath in Ezekiel chapter 6 for those who aren’t marked as His.

Jesus even encourages us not to worry in the end-times what we will eat or drink for those who are sealed as His.

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:27

Then in Revelation 9:4, “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”

The mark of God is the only mark you should be focused on and to know that with it comes His amazing eternal love that He created you to crave. He is the only one that can love you like you were born to receive from Him only.

This revelation during my studies rocked my world. One of those occasions when God gave me the opportunity to give grace to those who taught me the opposite. I was inspired by this revelation to make a tshirt reflecting this truth. Check it out in the Shop on our website. It’s called, Marked by God.

 

The rod of God comforts His followers

Now that you understand the power of the “rod of God,” you can better understand how it can comfort you. This understanding gives you a whole new light on what it means in this prayer. Praying this prayer every day will bring you indescribable peace as you await the trump of Jesus:

The 23rd Psalm
The Lord Is My Shepherd

• A Psalm of David.
  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
• He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
• He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
• Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
• Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
• Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” Psalms 23:1-6

 

In summary,

Your Creator loves you and wants you to choose to live in eternity with Him. To experience His everlasting hope, peace, and love. Turn to Him and He will turn to you. He is waiting for you. There is nothing you have done that Jesus’ blood didn’t already cover and wash away. Forgive yourself and run into His arms. Go through the steps below to help you make sure you are ready and marked by God.

Don’t complicate the process for salvation. Keep it simple.

Do the ABC’s and repent today.

• A: Admit that you are a sinner. (Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:8-9)

• B: Believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of God and that He died for your sins and rose from the dead for you. (John 3:16-18, 1Corinthians 15:1-4)

• C: Call on Jesus and repent of your sins and turn back to Him and ask Jesus to show you the way. (Romans 10:9-13, John 14:6)

 

May God bless you and keep you.

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